Major advances in directional drilling occurred in the 1970's when downhole drilling motors also known as mud motors driven by the hydraulic power of drilling mud circulated down the drill string became common. This concept allowed the drill bit to continue to rotate at the cutting face at the bottom of the hole while most of the drill pipe was held stationary. A piece of bent pipe also known as the bent stub between the stationary drill pipe and the top of the motor allowed the direction of the wellbore to change without needing to pull all of the drill pipe out and place another whipstock. Coupled with the development of measurement while drilling, tools using for example mud pulse telemetry, or networked or wired pipe or EM telemetry allows tools down hole to send directional data back to the surface without disturbing drilling operations, directional drilling became easier.
More recently several companies have developed tools which allow directional control while rotating. These tools are referred to as rotary steerable systems (RSS). Rotary steerable systems technology has made access and directional control possible in previously inaccessible or uncontrollable formations.
When changing the drill bit on motorized directional drilling assembly alignment of the drill bit with the motor section of the directional drilling apparatus becomes necessary in order to be able to properly thread the drill bit onto the end.
Due to the increasing size and the weight of drill bits and the drilling apparatus it is sometimes very difficult to obtain proper alignment between drill bits and the drilling apparatus particularly since the bearing section of the drilling apparatus is movable relative to the motor section.
Currently the drill bit is manually placed in position onto the threaded section of the drill to which it is to be attached. It is then up to personnel to lift, move, tilt, and turn the drill bit into the proper orientation in order to ensure that threading is carried out without created any cross threading complications.
Therefore there is a need for a device to be able to aid the operators to install a drill bit and to be able to obtain proper alignment between the drill bit and the drilling apparatus when threading the drill bit onto the end.